Jan 30 The Weekly Backcheck - 1/30/2011

Let's Start With Habs Stuff...

• Not a unique opinion here but it'll be unfortunate to see Kirk Muller leave the team after the season as inevitable as it has seemed for awhile. A very well-respected assistant coach, Muller deserves the opportunity to advance his career and take advantage of whatever opportunities that will be available to him. I'll keep an open mind on Muller's replacement but he will definitely be missed, as will his awkward "yea....uh merci"s to Joel Bouchard after his in-game interviews.

• The news of Muller's impending departure spurred a lot of anger among Habs fans that the organization keeps letting blue-chip head coaching prospects with no prior professional head coaching experience take their first big job elsewhere (see Guy Boucher). In the days of Michel Therrien, Alain Vigneault and Claude Julien, the complaint was the Habs kept hiring coaches with no professional head coaching experience. Some people are just never satisfied.

• The only thing I would take out of Wednesday's loss to Philadelphia is that the Habs aren't quite on the level of the best team in hockey. That honor belongs to the Flyers at the moment. The Habs simply aren't built to beat them and when you look at what the Flyers have done to the rest of the league, few teams are. If I'm the Habs, I'm hoping the road to the Stanley Cup doesn't go through Philadelphia.

• While the Flyers game may have left a bitter taste in the mouth of fans at least until they return Tuesday against Washington, the Habs are currently on pace for 97 points. That would be a pretty substantial improvement over last season's 88 point total.

• I loved the personality P.K. Subban showed at the skills competition and hopefully it showed a lot of fans and players around the league that he's much more than a poop disturber in the same mold of Sean Avery and Patrick Kaleta.

• Habs fans should take pride in the fact that 40% of NHL players polled said the Bell Centre was their favorite arena to play in according to the CBC/NHLPA players poll. It should be pretty clear to all that the atmosphere of a Habs game in Montreal remains unmatched anywhere else in the NHL.

...And On To Other Stuff Around The League...

• The fantasy draft on Friday night went about how I expected it to. I was completely on board with the idea to begin with but figured it would be executed a bit awkwardly since it was the inaugural draft. The main priority of the entire event should be to make the players comfortable with showing their true personalities, something I don't think can be accomplished with bright lights on them and James Duthie sticking a microphone in their face. The best parts of the entire evening were the brief "Sounds of the Draft" segments which caught the small-talk players were making with each other. TSN needs to find a way to work more of that in next year. Now, at least, they have something to work off of.

• I don't quite get Brian Burke coming out and saying that going forward, the last five players in the fantasy draft should have their names drawn out of a hat to see what team they wind up on. The comments, coupled with the fact that it was his own player who got picked last, only add to the attention and embarassment on Phil Kessel.

• I was very disappointed to see the NHL do away with the rookie game they normally hold as part of the skills competition. Tradionally, the kids put on a better show than the veterans the next day seeing as, for a lot of them, it's their chance to really get noticed with the eyes of the hockey world, not to mention their veteran peers, on them.

• I thought the player's entrace with the dry ice smoke and their own theme music at the skills competition was a really cool touch by the NHL and they deserve to be commended for that. The large circular screen in the middle of the ice, however, I could've done without. Seems like it blocked the view of a lot more fans than was necessary.

• The skills competition itself needs somewhat of a makeover. For one thing, there were too many heats in the fastest skater competition. I usually enjoy the accuracy competition but having players on each side doing it simultaneously made it a bit difficult to follow. Some elements of the relay were fun to watch but it seemed disorganized. At least the NHL is making an effort to change things up every now and then.

• The annual bitch fest of the All-Star Game activities once again arose this year with many calling for the NHL to just cancel the event altogether. Well, seeing as how the players deserve a break somewhere around mid-season anyway, if you don't like the All-Star Game the solution is very simple. Don't watch. Personally, I enjoy watching the events. Does it beat regular NHL action? No, but it's better than nothing.

• As for the game itself? Pretty much on par with past all-star games. You know what you're getting and it's a bit of laid back fun. Having Eric Staal and Tim Thomas mic'd up during the game to hear the on-ice chatter was a nice touch. I get the impression Staal and Thomas made a few fans in Montreal this weekend even if one is blamed for re-injuring Andrei Markov and the other backstops one of the Habs biggest rivals.

• I assure you this isn't my anti-Leafs sentiment talking here but if Nik Kulemin is going to keep jabbing someone like Tim Gleason in the face, that's an invitation to fight in my book. At that point, Kulemin should've been prepared with his gloves off so I don't have any real issue with Gleason popping him in the nose. The Canucks' Tanner Glass summed up my feelings perfectly. "That's what you get, you start punching guys in the face and if it's the wrong guy you're going to get a punch in the mouth," said Glass. "When I saw it I started laughing, but what do you expect? You start slugging a guy in the face, he's going to drop you." Hopefully, Kulemin learned that the name on his jersey and the amount of penalty minutes in his stat line don't dictate what he's able to get away with in a scrum.

• Alex Semin is a pretty dynamic player when he wants to be but I feel like the Capitals could have put the $6.7 million they just gave him for next season to better use. The team continues to lack depth at centre, on defense and a question mark in nets. An extra $6.7 million would go a long way in solving those problems.

• Obviously, the name Mike Komisarek draws a lot of ire in these parts these days but I'm happy to see the story where the allegedly punched a woman in the face in Los Angeles seems to be a bit overblown. Something about the entire story seemed a bit fishy from the start.

• I know this is a hockey blog but Ben Cahoon's retirement deserves mention. He retires as the CFL's all-time leading receiver and a key part of three Grey Cup-winning teams. But the dignity and class he showed in representing the Alouettes organization and this city for 13 years is perhaps even more impressive. It's not often you see such a deserving player go out on top but no one deserves that more than Cahoon.

About Will Martinez

Will Martinez runs the 'Hey, My Name is Will' blog and is a contributor for TheFranchise.ca. You can follow Will on Twitter @heymynameiswill

Tags: Alex Semin \ Bell Center \ Ben Cahoon \ Brian Burke \ habs \ Kirk Muller \ Mike Komisarek \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL All-Star \ Philadelphia Flyers \ PK Subban

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